Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago

Only 22 hours after defeating Texas San Antonio 76-64 to start the 2015-16 campaign, the Loyola Ramblers tip off against the Eureka College Red Devils in a non-D1 game. As nearly everyone who has heard of Eureka knows, it’s the alma mater of Ronald Reagan. The college is located about halfway between Peoria and Bloomington-Normal, a few miles north of I-74. The tiny Division III school (enrollment less than 800) has a considerable sports footprint, fielding eight sports for men and eight for women, including football.

Eureka is coming off a 12-13 season last year, and was hit hard by graduation and transfers. Only two starters, 5’10” senior guard Greg Kent and 6’5” junior forward Parker Gibson, return for Coach Chip Wilde. The rest of the starting lineup is composed of three newcomers: 6’4” freshman forward Alex Wiegand, 6’2” senior guard Sam Feehan (a transfer from Illinois Central), and 5’11” guard Tommy Goulding (a transfer from Aurora).

Only five players off the Red Devil bench saw time in Eureka’s Friday night 100-77 season opening loss to Rockford College, and each of them was 6’3” or smaller. Feehan led Eureka’s scorers with 22 points on 40% shooting, and hit four three pointers. Gibson (13), Wiegand (11), and Kent (10) also scored in double figures, but the rest of the team was 7 for 29 from the field. Rockford out-rebounded tiny Eureka 39 to 22, and led by 26 points at halftime.

In the past two years, Eureka has played games in the regular season against Bradley, Eastern Illinois, and Western Illinois, losing each game by between 27 and 42 points. This year they play Loyola and Northern Illinois, but with a less experienced team than last season.

Loyola's win over UTSA is their sixth in a row dating back to last season. The Ramblers looked to cruise against UTSA by breaking out to a 22-5 lead, but the Roadrunners kept cutting the deficit back to two possessions. As a result, four Loyola starters played 28 minutes or more, and Earl Peterson was forced to play 36 minutes. Newcomer Tyson Smith did not play, and freshman Pernell Adgei saw less than a minute of court time in his college debut. Expect Loyola’s bench-- especially Maurice Kirby, Pernell Adgei, and Julius Rajala-- to see considerable minutes, as the Ramblers played a four guard lineup for much of the game against UTSA and saw five guards play more than 20 minutes. Loyola will have a chance to test various lineup combos, give scrimmage time to the bench, and get used to back to back game days against a very young and small D-III team that should not pose much of a threat.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 114aaa.pdf

Eureka game notes: http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/e ... pdf?id=737

TV/Streaming video: http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id ... -vs-Loyola

Vegas line: None

It strikes me that Porter was a bit ticked during his comments post game. If so, I agree with him. The ONE thing that will kill us is over-confidence (arrogance).

If this is the case PM will cure it in a hurry. See O'Leary et al. Nothing as drastic as that of course--am just making a point

I am about to head over to the arena. I am not expecting much from this game and I think it will be a pretty easy win. I am hoping we see more of Adgei and Kirby in this one to further see what they can do.

Richardson not involved in warm ups. Sitting in sweats on bench. Looked like he was nursing something on the sidelines using a foam roller last night.
Hopefully just precautionary.

_________________
Living in the 60660.

Pretty sloppy so far but I'm not worried we will pull away soon. Pernell is going to cause problems for this team with how big and athletic he is.

Was just matter of time and it's now up to 13. Turk has looked very good and is taking men off the dribble. I'm surprised to see Cal getting minutes early but good for him.

19-0 run is looking fantastic!! Seems like Porter's giving Julius and Cal some extra playing time which is good experience

_________________
Living in the 60660.

Who is #13 who got some playing time at the end? I am watching the game on mute on my phone.

Sluggish start, but a 35-3 run in the last 13 minutes or so was good to see.

44-18 at half not much to really evaluate with a game like this.